Cyclebetes - Cross Canada Cycling, Student Leadership, Cure Diabetes

What is Cyclebetes

How Cyclebetes Began

Vancouver businessman Kyle Balagno promised his daughter Taylor he would do everything in his power to help find a cure for her juvenile (type one) diabetes before her 18th birthday. He had 6 years.

"I must have been in a state of pure panic when I first uttered those words to my daughter after she had been diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes. If not panic then my love for her must have left me momentarily dazed. How could a guy like me really cure a disease, let alone do it within a 15-year period?

If that wasn't crazy enough, mentioning it to my friends in passing was my next biggest error. One casual comment about my promise and I am thrown so far out of my comfort zone that my head was now actually spinning. Others knew of my dreams for a cure, my wishes for a family life void of pumps and injections, and now I was going to be held accountable to a promise I knew I had stated but wasn't sure I had really made a commitment to."

Kyle Balagno
Founding Rider Team H2V
Father committed to finding a cure.

That commitment spawned Team H2V, a 5 man team who cycled across Canada at break neck speed in September 2007. They made the epic ride in just 8 days, set a Guinness World Record and raised $800,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and millions of media hits.

Where five men once set a standard now thousands will follow. Where five ordinary men proved the extraordinary was possible, new champions conquer their own personal goals; For themselves. For teams. For those with juvenile diabetes.

Cyclebetes is a festival of cycling events designed to bring a country, cyclist and the type 1 community together in celebration of what is possible.

The Purpose

Cyclebetes is a festival of cycling events designed to bring people together. Youth, cyclists, those with Type 1 diabetes, their families and the community at large will unite to celebrate what is possible. Do something...something big...those were the words that fueled Team H2V.

"Being involved in events my whole life we knew we had something that could capture the imagination of the masses if we made it about their experience. The spin-a-thon and the relays will allow people to tell their story. It will allow them to deliver on their own promises. Promises that they may have made to themselves. Get fit, help a friend, do something different, become involved in a community and possibly be a part of finding a cure for one of the world's largest diseases. Cyclebetes is about young people being a part of the solution and leading. It is about standing up and removing the ordinary in favor of the extraordinary. Cyclebetes is about making a difference personally and in your community."

Willie Cromack
Team H2V Rider
Cyclebetes CEO/Founder

It's just the Beginning.

In 2008, six grade 11 students from Rockridge Secondary in West Vancouver, British Columbia, inspired by the amazing ride of H2V, created the very first Cyclebetes event and after weeks of planning, organizing, and 24 hours of spinning on stationary bicycles they had raised $80,000 for the JDRF.

Seeing the infinite possibilities for these events, the Cyclebetes student leadership program was developed.

In 2009, Cyclebetes Spin-a-Thons were held in nine schools involving thousands of participants, and hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for juvenile diabetes research. It is now time to take Cyclebetes Spin-a-Thons across Canada.

"Never stop going, you will reach your goal, just never give up. No matter what's in your way, if you keep on trying, you can reach it."

Francesca McDowell
Rockridge High School Grade 12 Student
Cyclebetes Organizing Team

Equally successful was the 2009 cross-Canada Cyclebetes Relay. This ride was similar to the original H2V ride but with a twist...the relay was completed on a tandem bicycle! Feel what a day on the road was like for the team!

Each Province had a team of 10 riders, 5 adults and 5 youth with Type 1 Diabetes. The ride on the tandem was a challenge but they all lived up to it and in so doing, managed to raise awareness and funds for diabetes research.

The cross-Canada Cyclebetes Relay for 2010 is in the planning stages. Community rides, both long and short, will join up with the tandem cyclists, ensuring that everyone can participate in the biggest bike relay in the world.

Growing our Programs to Make the Biggest Difference

In February, 2011 (This year!) Cyclebetes became a registered, nationally recognized, charitable organization (#817879141RR0001) and now operates under the name 'The 4 What Matters Foundation' In the same way that we have supported the search for a cure for type 1 diabetes, The 4 What Matters Foundation believes in supporting what matters to ALL individuals, and provides the same programs to people wanting to make a difference for causes they care deeply about.

Our goals are bigger, however, our legacy and our overall values stay to same